Artist and designer Drew Montemayor works with all kinds of materials. His pieces incorporate paint, chalk and even flour, which he used for a Bryce Harper portrait during the Phillies' most recent playoff run. But when Wells Fargo Center came calling for a special commission for Olivia Rodrigo, who played the arena on July 19, he had to pick up some new supplies.
"I was painting with a lot of sparkle and gluing down a lot of gemstones," Montemayor remembered. "Which is not usually my style. But for Olivia, it totally made sense."
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The finished piece was an acoustic guitar adorned with stars, a screaming mouth and a studded Flyers' logo. Rodrigo received the present when she performed at the Wells Fargo Center, and she's not the only one to leave the venue with a custom memento. The arena provides gifts for the acts that pass through their doors, partnering with local artists to lend a bit of Philly flavor.
Since each piece is inspired by the individual musician, band or stand-up comic, the presents vary wildly. Pearl Jam got custom skateboard decks painted in blacks and blues with grayscale body organs, inspired by its latest album "Dark Matter." Charli XCX, whose album "Brat" exploded over the summer, got a Bratz doll styled in her image to match. And when Bucks County native Sabrina Carpenter returned to the area for her October show, a blue, feathery robe with a bedazzled monogram was waiting for her.
Wells Fargo Center General Manager Mike Sulkes said this program has existed in some form for a while, but the staff took it "to the next level over the last couple years coming out of the pandemic." During that time, the arena has built up a roster of roughly 25 local artists for commissions, which are planned months in advance.
"In the past, it's always been kind of a joke. Every (arena) would just give their home team jersey to the artist that was coming through," he said. "These artists are going on 50-, 60-city tours, so we wanted to make their stop in Philly special."
Sulkes describes the process as collaborative, enlisting various members of the events, hospitality, marketing and public relations teams. The group will research the next act on the Wells Fargo Center roster, paying special attention to what they enjoy in "their day-to-day life," he says. Then the team will collaborate with whichever artist it deems the best cultural fit.
That artist is often a fan themselves, adding extra stakes to the project. Montemayor admits he didn't know a lot of Rodrigo's music, though he earned "some really good street cred with my niece" through that commission. But he was very familiar with Incubus, the recipients of another one of his custom gifts. He had already bought his wife tickets to their Aug. 27 concert as an anniversary present when he got the assignment to make custom vinyls for each member of the band.
"I know them from listening to their music and I know that at least two of them are visual artists, so I think I was putting extra pressure on myself to make sure they liked it," he said. "That was a little tough, just trying to make it a way that I felt proud about and that maybe they would appreciate the art."
Montemayor managed to make it backstage to present the pieces to the band himself, but that kind of handoff doesn't always happen. Due to the packed, precise tour day schedules of each act, Sulkes said, sometimes the venue staff simply leaves the present in the dressing room. The arena also puts something together for each member of the road crew to take home, like a hoodie or poster.
Sulkes describes the custom gifts as one piece of a wider initiative to build out events at Wells Fargo Center, which also includes fan giveaways and custom art installations in the concourse (the local artist network is involved in those, too). The team is already brainstorming ideas for shows coming to the arena in 2025.
While these projects are meant to delight a specific person or group, they've also provided the creatives involved with an outlet to explore their voice.
"I'm a graphic designer working with a lot of startups, and I'm helping them with branding and who they are," Montemayor said. "And I realized I haven't taken a lot of time to figure out whom am I, who I wanna be as an artist. So I've been kind of exploring that too, and some of these projects helped me do that."
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